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CNET First Look

Playing catch with the Wilson X Connected Football

CNET's Dan Graziano gives you a first look at the new Wilson smart football.

1:43 / 6 October 2016

Transcript

We have smartphones, smartwatches and even smart sneakers.
And now smartfootballs.
This is the Wilson X connected football and it can measure your throw speed, your distance, spin rate, spiral efficiency and whether your buddy catches it or not.
You would never know that this is a smartfootball.
That's because it looks and throws just like a normal football And despite having built in sensors, it's the same size and weight of an NFL ball.
Now unlike some other smart sports gear we've seen, this football never has to be charged.
Before it starts recording, you have to hold it vertically for two seconds and then turn it upside down to enable a sensor.
This helps preserve battery life, which will last about 200,000 throws, or up to 500 hours of connected usage.
The ball comes with a wrist sleeve for your smartphone which gives you quick and easy access to plays and stats mid game.
But the sleeve only comes in one size, and unfortunately it doesn't fit bigger phones like the iPhone 6S Plus or Nexus 6P.
The Wilson app has five game modes to choose from.
There's a basic warmup, a precision mode, an elimination challenge, and a final drive and game day mini games.
After each throw you can look down at your wrist and see stats on how far or how fast you threw the ball.
You can also see how you stack up against other people on the Wilson X leaderboard Overall I had a lot of fun testing the ball and I think it's a good buy for a young quarterback who wants to improve their game or people like you and me who just want to have some fun and see our stats.
But there is a downside and that's the price.
The ball costs $200 which is a $100 premium over Wilson's NFL ball.
Football.
For more information on the Wilson X connected football, be sure to check out my full review at www.cnet.com.

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